Falls

Falls often take you by surprise, we all feel dizzy from time to time whether it is from dehydration, lack of food or the common cold. However, dizziness and balance problems often lead to falls resulting in serious injury.  So, it’s important to know exactly what to do in the event of one.

Falls can have immediate effects – both physical and mental. For example, as well as the possibility of bruising yourself, twisting your ankle or breaking a bone, falls can often trigger shock and anxiety. This mental state can make it difficult to deal with falls correctly. For this reason, it’s all the more important that you know what to do in the event of a fall, and take the right fall precautions.

First of all, it’s important to just breathe deeply and try to relax. If the position you’ve fallen in is safe, take a minute to think and consider your next actions. If you feel comfortable with getting up and are confident that you haven’t seriously injured yourself, then you should do so.

Often, the way in which people try to get up off the floor puts them at risk of further harm. It’s important that you don’t injure yourself while trying to get up, or fall again accidentally.

This is the best way of getting up from the floor:

• Lie on your side

• Using your elbows and hands, push into the crawling position

• Move towards a chair and hold the chair to keep yourself steady

• Bring yourself into a kneeling position

• Place your strongest leg in front whilst holding onto the chair

• Stand up if you feel comfortable doing so – but if not you can carefully turn and sit down

If you don’t feel comfortable getting up, you should try and call for help. This could be by shouting, using objects around you to make noise, or if you can reach one, by using a telephone. If necessary, call 999.

If you think you might have to wait a long time for someone to come and help you, you should try and keep warm if at all possible.